With 4 wins and one defeat within the qualification spherical (January 7-15) of the 76th National Football Championship for the AIFF Hero Santosh Trophy in Kolhapur, Maharashtra have certified for the subsequent part of the distinguished occasion to be held in Odisha subsequent month.
Led by sturdy proper again Shravan Shetty, 27, and coached by former India midfielder Steven Dias, 39, and ex-junior nationwide Ryan D’Souza, 49, the state outfit beat Madhya Pradesh 4-0, Chattisgarh 1-0, Daman & Dadra 4-0 and Haryana 3-1 earlier than happening 1-2 to West Bengal within the qualifiers.
Skipper Shetty mentioned it has been a formidable present to this point given the brief interval the group received to coach collectively. “We hardly had 5 days for apply after the group was picked earlier this month, so many of the gamers are nonetheless attending to know one another. Considering this, the efficiency has been excellent,” mentioned Mira Road resident Shetty, 27, who performs for Ambernath United Atlanta in Mumbai’s Elite Division.
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“Unfortunately, in our final match, Bengal stunned us with two early objectives and although we fought again within the second half and scored one, they held on for the win. But our group’s combating spirit on this match proves that we will solely enhance from right here. This is a younger group with a median of round 26-27 years. The boys are focussed and if we take our probabilities within the subsequent spherical, I consider we will win this match,” added Shetty, who credited Dias and D’Souza for his or her efficient teaching methods.
“In Steven and Ryan, we’ve got two of the most effective coaches within the area. They are younger and abreast of all trendy coaching strategies within the sport. We have round 10 Mumbai boys within the 22-man squad, with the remainder of the gamers coming from numerous different districts throughout Maharashtra, so it’s fairly a various group. Keeping this in thoughts, each coaches are additionally taking the trouble to combine with the boys and make sure the group is united,” concluded Shetty.
